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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26785618">achieving equilibrium</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/fickle_fixations/pseuds/fickle_fixations'>fickle_fixations</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Nothing Like It in the World (Frenchie x Kimiko Tumblr oneshots) [5]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>The Boys (TV 2019)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>100 Ways to Say I Love You Writing Challenge, 2x03, 2x07, Angst, F/M, Fear, Flashback, I don't like tagging him as The Frenchman, It's that one Stormfront line, Nightmare, can there just be one tag for all of Frenchie's names?, let Frenchie say Mon Coeur, mention of Stormfront, mention of kenji, sleepy Frenchie, tw: racial slur</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-10-03</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-10-03</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 05:42:31</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Not Rated</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>583</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26785618</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/fickle_fixations/pseuds/fickle_fixations</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>A request from a 100 ways to say I love you prompt list. Also an expansion/variation on an idea I had for how season 3 should open.</p><p>41. “Go back to sleep.”</p><p>There’s a sound. A sound outside the rage and grief in her mind. Rage sounds like a thundering waterfall. Grief sounds like a birdsong in the dead of night.</p><p>But this sound is different. It’s close and it vibrates through her bones. For a moment, it stills her shivers.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>The Female | Kimiko Miyashiro &amp; Kenji Miyashiro, The Female | Kimiko Miyashiro/Frenchie | Serge, The Female | Kimiko Miyashiro/The Frenchman</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Nothing Like It in the World (Frenchie x Kimiko Tumblr oneshots) [5]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1953058</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>5</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>37</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>achieving equilibrium</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><ul class="associations">
      <li>For <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/Legends_of_Entity/gifts">Legends_of_Entity</a>.</li>



    </ul><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Requested by the Chief Frenchie/Kimiko shipper. One of the most valuable assets this mini fandom has. I'm tired so I'm sorry if this is coming out weird but you're genuinely really freaking awesome and I'm so glad I met you and that we can share these two eggs and pineapples. Love you, bro &lt;3</p><p>I admit I did write it in a bit of a haste but I think/hope it's still good.</p><p>Also I've been transferring all my fics from tumblr onto here and words are really starting to get blurry so there's probably more I need to mention but I can't think of it.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    
<p></p><div class="">
  <p>“Yellow bastard.” Stormfront jeers.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>And just like that he’s gone. Her brother is gone.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>She’s flooded with grief and rage and confusion and an explosive hatred, but she has to run. </p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>As she runs all she can think of is how <em>he’s gone</em>. The phrase washes over her in one, ruthless wave after the next. And in the short moments between each wave when she can come up for air she thinks: <em>run</em>.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>She runs and she runs until she can’t see. Then she stops. She wipes the tears from her eyes to find that she’s in a large room. A long table on a raised platform lines one wall. She’s standing in front of a podium, facing the table. She turns around. Behind her, the room is filled with chairs. And nearly every chair is occupied by strangers.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>She looks closer at the crowd. Scattered among the strangers, she notices people she knows. Starlight. Hughie. Her grandparents. Butcher. MM.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Frenchie.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>There’s an explosion. There’s blood.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Another explosion follows a moment later, this time much closer to her. She’s knocked backwards. She’s covered in blood.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>There’s more and more explosions until all the strangers are headless on the ground.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Then Starlight. Then Hughie. Then her grandparents.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>She tries to get up to run to the others but she’s hurt or trapped. She can’t move. She can’t see her own body.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Another explosion. Butcher.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Then MM.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>She strains against the invisible force holding her down. </p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>
    <em>Not him too. Not him too.</em>
  </p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>The fear in Frenchie’s eyes cuts deep into her chest.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>In a flash of red, he’s gone too.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>She thrashes against the unseen thing keeping her down. She screams, but doesn’t make a sound. She can only feel the scream tearing at her throat, heating the blood in her veins to a boil.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>She bolts upright. She’s shaking like mad and her eyes are wide as she stares at nothing. She can’t see where she is. She wonders if she’s still in that place. She wonders if a light were to turn on, if she would be faced with the dead bodies of strangers and friends and… him.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>There’s a sound. A sound outside the rage and grief in her mind. Rage sounds like a thundering waterfall. Grief sounds like a birdsong in the dead of night.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>But this sound is different. It’s close and it vibrates through her bones. For a moment, it stills her shivers.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>There’s another sound.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“Mon Coeur?”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>She rips her eyes away from the nothingness before her, and looks down at her side. There, she sees everything.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>She sees everything that is real and safe, reflected in his eyes as he looks up at her. </p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Not him too. He was still here. He was safe.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>She lays down beside him and lets him draw her into his arms. </p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“It was just a dream, mon coeur,” he says softly. “Just a nightmare.”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>His fingers entwine with hers and as they do, they seem to draw away the feelings that the dream left her with. The grief hides and the rage calms to its usual simmer. </p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>She draws even closer to him, trying to close every bit of space between their bodies. The closer she gets, the farther away those feelings and memories retreat. </p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>He nestles his face in the crook of her neck and places a soft kiss there.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“<strong>Go back to sleep</strong>, mon coeur.” he says. “You’re safe now.”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>She believes him. She trusts him. She always does.</p>
</div>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Check out <a>my Tumblr</a> for more content and information about the 100 ways to say I love you challenge.</p></blockquote></div></div>
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